


Seasons

by AngelynMoon



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: A story told backwards, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Gen, How Do I Tag, M/M, Meet-Cute, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:07:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24838186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelynMoon/pseuds/AngelynMoon
Summary: A story told through Season. A relationship told backwards.I deliberately left tags out to avoid spoilers, if you want to be spoiled see the authors note in the story.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	1. Stiles

**Author's Note:**

> This story is told backwards, so the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning.
> 
> The first section has Stiles in a hospital dying of an illness but when I reread it i realised that the beginning sections can be interpreted in such a way that this appears to be a recovery fic and that is not the case, this is not a recovery story it's a decline story.
> 
> If that is not the story you wish to read please exit this fic politely.
> 
> If those of you who do read really believe that I should add the Major Character Death tag, even with the ambiguity of the fic's technical ending then let me know and I'll add it.
> 
> Further explanations at the end.

Spring.

Spring is new beginnings, it's love in the air and soft kisses. It's holding hands and whispering secrets.

Stiles loves spring, always had, the blooming of flowers, the birds singing. He loves them but he wishes that he was outside enjoying them instead of imagining them from this tiny room.

Stiles sighs and lets his eyes rest a moment knowing he's going to fall asleep soon enough.

He'd hoped to stay awake until Derek arrived but it was getting harder and harder.

He wondered if Derek was bored the times he dropped off mid sentence but he was glad that Derek was here with him, it was nice.

Some days it felt selfish to be glad that Derek was with him and perhaps it was but it didn't change Stiles' feelings.

He was glad Derek held his hand when he slept, when the pain nearly consumed him.

He was thankful, too, for how bright the other man had made these last few months.

Stiles' last few months

Stiles smiled and slept as the door to his room creaked open.  
:

Winter.

Christmas time is much too cold, Stiles complains. He was born for warm weather.

Derek gives him a looks and asks him why he came to New York then and Stiles glares because that doesn't matter when he's so cold.

Derek grins and hands him his hot chocolate with a kiss on his forehead and Stiles lets the drink warm his hands before sipping slowly, remembering the winter before.

He looks over at Derek as the man walks beside him, still blissfully unaware of the knowledge Stiles carries, the knowledge that makes him tell the stupidest jokes just to make Derek laugh.

Some days Stiles wishes they never met, wishes that they met earlier but it is what it is and Stiles drinks his hot chocolate and takes Derek's hand to make him give him one of his shy smiles as Stiles leans his head against Derek's shoulder.

He wishes things were different, yes, but not Derek, never Derek, just their circumstances.  
:

Autumn.

Derek takes him home with him for Thanksgiving. It's a nice thought because Scott is busy and he and Allison aren't doing Thanksgiving this year since Allison's parents are out of the country.

So, Stiles goes with Derek to his family home that is bursting with people, so many that Stiles finally understands why Derek told him they were staying at the hotel in town instead of at the house.

It's a wonder that Stiles remembers any names, though he's not sure who those names belong to. But they all greet him like he's always been coming to Thanksgiving dinner.

Stiles thinks, perhaps, that they don't even know this is his first time meeting any of them.

But Derek smiles and Stiles' heart skips a beat and he has to sit before long but that's alright because someone drops a baby in his lap and gives him a bottle and he feeds the baby and gets thrown up on which makes Derek laugh when Stiles finally finds him to ask after a bathroom.

But Stiles gets to spend the rest of the night in a shirt that smells of Derek and so he might just give that baby, at least he thinks it's the same baby, a high five and a thank you, much to the amusement of one of Derek's uncles.

Stiles thinks his name is Peter but he's been calling him Uncle Creepy in his head because of the way he's been staring at Stiles all night.

It's a nice night, even given Uncle Creepy, and for the first time Stiles is thankful and when they get back to the Hotel he makes a list of all he's thankful for.

At the top of the list is Derek.  
:  
Summer.

Derek's smile is bright, brilliant and Stiles hordes them to himself, secrets them away for when his body aches and the tears comes unbidden.

Derek's smile is lovely but his laugh is the best.

Stiles wants Derek's laugh to be the soundtrack of his life and that was unexpected, the same way the bursts of happiness were that he felt when he was with Derek.

Stiles doesn't remember being this happy since his dad died.

The happiness curls up in his heart along with Derek's smile and Stiles warms himself with them when he feels cold.

He loves Derek's smile, it's just so warm and bright.

But Derek's laugh is the best.  
:  
Spring.

Spring is new beginnings. It's love and laughter, it's bright smiles and secrets shared.

Stiles loves spring, loves the birds singing and the blooming flowers, spring has always been his favorite season.

Derek drags him to a cute little fun fair. He gets his face painted and so does Derek and for the first time in a while Stiles feels good, Derek makes him feel good.

It's sweet how he brings Stiles flowers, how he gives his knuckles a kiss each time they part and Stiles loves it.

Derek has a soft spot for animals and children and Stiles ends up dragging him away from the puppies when they take walks in the park and when Derek tries to get him to adopt one Stiles tells him he's already got one.

It takes Derek a bit to understand what Stiles means and when he does he pouts and turns those puppy eyes on Stiles and Stiles takes him to a shelter so that he'll stop and they pet all the puppies and Derek doesn't even get mad when he has to carry Stiles home because he fell asleep in the puppy pile.  
:  
Winter.

It's Christmas time and Stiles has never felt less like celebrating.

For one, he has a doctor's appointment that can't wait, for two, it's his first Christmas without his dad and Scott is visiting Allison's family in France so, it's Stiles on his own.

After his appointment Stiles ends up at the park.

He's in shock, he knows.

But it's not fair, it's not.

Stiles watches children playing in the snow, laughing and hollering and building snowmen.

Stiles misses being that young, misses not having any worries but how they are going to lift Frosty's middle onto his bottom because they made it too big.

Stiles blinks and a tear falls onto his hand. At least he won't have to worry soon enough.

Eventually Stiles gets up and makes his way to a nearby cafe.

He orders a hot chocolate, it's been too long since he's had hot chocolate and Stiles is feeling childish.

The barista calls his name and another but Stiles gets there first and smiles at his first sip of the warm drink.

He turns and runs into a wall that makes his drink spill over his hand, sweater and the floor.

"Sorry." A voice says and Stiles looks up from mourning his hot chocolate.

"Oh." Stiles says because the man's handsome and he looks nervous in his cute little glasses and he's got little bunny teeth and a day's scruff.

"Let me buy you replacement." The man says, almost desperate, like Stiles might refuse.

"Sure." Stiles says, "Let me just clean up a little while you do that, a hot chocolate."

Stiles cleans up and is somewhat surprised that the man has waited for him to come back, one hand holding his new hot chocolate.

"Thank you." Stiles said, honestly, he hadn't really expected a replacement.

"You're welcome. Maybe I can buy you a drink without spilling one on you first?" He sounds unsure, like he thinks Stiles is going to say no.

And Stiles should, he really should, but...

"That sounds nice." Stiles says instead.

"Yeah?" And the man just lights up as he smiles and Stiles likes his smile, bunny teeth and all.

"I'm Stiles." Stiles gives a smile of his own and holds out his hand.

His new friend takes it, giving it a firm shake before lifting it up to press a kiss to his knuckles and Stiles' inner 16th century maiden swoons.

"I'm Derek." The man says with another smile as he lets go of Stiles' hand.

And Stiles, Stiles falls a little in love with that smile.

\---

A/n: a thing I wrote with from a prompt about writing a story divided by the seasons.

I decided to do a relationship told backwards and wrote for Spring, Summer, Autumn, and then Winter before realizing that for the premise I was writing I needed a few more seasons.

In case you were confused the end is the beginning and the beginning is the end.

And yes I intended Stiles to die but I suppose you can pretend he's getting treatment, whatever floats your boat.


	2. Derek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek's point of view.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Same premiss as the first chapter only from Derek's point of view.

Spring.

Stiles loves spring, the birds tweeting, the flowers blooming, hand holding and secrets.

Derek loved how Stiles loved spring so he'd brought him flowers and held his hand and kept the windows open so they could hear the birds singing.

He still brings Stiles flowers, still hears the birds singing and he still tells Stiles his secrets though Stiles no longer returns them.

Stiles has no secrets left tell him.  
:

Winter.

Stiles hates the cold, it makes Derek laugh at him because New York almost always has snow in winter.

But Derek buys him hot chocolate, they same as he had almost a year ago now, he takes Stiles to a skating ring and teaches the other man how to glide, holding him around the waist to keep him from falling.

Stiles tires easily, his weight heavy against Derek as they walk, Stiles' chilled fingers tucked into his to be warmed in the thick lining of his pocket as he sips his hot chocolate.

His eyes are bright and he lets Derek kiss him beneath the mistletoe and he laughs when Derek dips him.

Derek might be a little in love with Stiles' laugh, he wants to hear it for the rest of his life but Stiles isn't ready for that commitment yet, he still doesn't initiate their kisses, just accepts the ones Derek offers and so Derek gives them often and maybe it is just that Stiles has had bad boyfriends in the past but that won't stop Derek from loving him.

He can wait, as long as Stiles is by his side he can wait.  
:  
Autumn. 

Stiles goes all out for Halloween, he dresses up his apartment webs and spiders and at one point he makes a show of eating one the spiders in front of a group of trick or treaters and sends them screaming while he laughs.

Derek is horrified until Stiles shows him that the little spider is chocolate and the webs by the door that he placed that morning are made of cotton candy.

Derek finds himself eating the webs as Stiles opens the door for the next batch and freezes at the looks of horrified delight on the teenager's face while Stiles gives their group of tiny Avengers candy.

Stiles reaches over to grab a drink that has been sitting a heat pad and thus still bubbles a little as Stiles pops one of the tiny spiders into it, making it steam as the frozen spider hisses in and melts.

Stiles stirs his drink twice with a long stick that is made to look like a wand and then chugs his 'potion'.

The children look delighted at meeting a witch on Halloween and screech happily as they turn to the teenager.

Stiles laughs and slips the teen a regular sized candy bar before shutting the door.

Derek stares at Stiles' bright eyes and knows that he's going to do this next year.

He's going to eat candy webs and chocolate spiders and drink bubbling and steaming hot chocolate with Stiles for the rest of his life and he wouldn't change it for the world.  
:

Summer.

Derek favorite season is summer. It's just the right time of year, not too cold and not quite too hot yet either.

Derek loves it.

It's new this year with Stiles along, oohing at all of Derek's favorite spots, tasting all the foods from Derek's favorite little restaurants and wrinkling his nose at the beers that Derek enjoyed.

Derek liked that little wrinkle, it was endearing and Derek just wanted to kiss it smooth.

One day he would and maybe Stiles would let out a laugh as he did.

Derek loves Stiles' laugh, but he rarely heard it and so he hordes them, tucks them into his heart and lets them make him smile for no reason other than the memory that made them.

Yes, Derek thinks as he watches Stiles run over to where they agreed to meet, he loves summer, but most of all he loves summer with Stiles.  
:  
Spring.

Spring is Stiles' favorite season, he tells Derek this as he points out flowers and a hummingbird buzzing by.

The first time Derek decides to buy Stiles a bouquet he goes traditional, he gets tulips and roses and Stiles gasps in both surprise and delight and tuck a rose in to one of his button holes.

His reaction is the same when Derek gets him another bouquet the following week, eyes bright with joy and a secret.

Derek wants to learn that secret, wants Stiles to trust him with it and Derek presses another kiss to Stiles' knuckles before they part because it makes Stiles giggle and smile each time. He's almost glad that his sisters convinced him that this was the proper etiquette for someone you wished to date.  
:  
Winter.

Derek is angry, his flight home was canceled due to the weather and so he'll be spending this Christmas alone. He hasn't been alone on Christmas since his second year after College when he was so swamped with work that he hadn't realized that it was Christmas at all until his mother called.

And now it was snowing again and it crunched loudly beneath his shoes and he was cold and he was just miserable.

The sign of a cozy little cafe caught his eye and he decided that he could use a little pick me up and entered the quaint little place.

The line was blissfully short and he ordered and went to wait, looking around the area.

A soft looking young man caught his attention, he was hunched in on himself, hands in his pockets as he waited.

Derek thought he looked as down as Derek felt but Derek heard his name called before he could work up the courage to approach him.

Derek headed over to the counter, noticing the man doing the same, getting there first and Derek was frozen by the look of bliss that crossed the man's face.

Then the man turned and slammed into Derek and it was reflex more than anything else that had Derek apologizing and his mother's lessons at being polite that had him offering to get him another.

The man went to clean up as Derek ordered a new hot chocolate and something in him smiles at the childish drink the other man had ordered.

He looks surprised when he returns to see Derek holding his new drink and Derek can't help himself, he has to make this man smile so he offers another drink.

"That sounds nice." He says, looking a bit surprised at himself.

"Yeah?" And Derek has to grin because he said yes, take that, Laura, he's not awkward.

"I'm Stiles." Stiles gives a smile of his own and holds out his hand.

Derek takes the drink warmed hand in his, giving it a firm shake before lifting it up to press a kiss to Stiles' knuckles because that's what one does when they want to date someone.

Stiles gives a little 'Oh' and a giggle.

"I'm Derek." Derek tells him with a smile as he releases Stiles' hand already wanting to take it back in his.

Stiles gives a soft little smile and Derek, Derek can't help falling a little in love with that smile.

\--

A/n: I still have no excuses and I'm sorry.

Seasons from Derek's point of view.

I suppose you can still assume Stiles is getting treatments and is just sleeping a lot but I still intended Stiles to be dying, so...


End file.
